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Unwashed leather can be a little flat. You wash it, and it gets a very 3-dimensional feel. Plus, the washing brings out a lot of the character of the leather. Most of the better designer leather jackets undergo washes. Traditionalists are often not a fan. A good quality leather (like that used in the ToJ moto) tends to look particularly good after a wash, and because the leather is high quality, you don' really strip away too many of its natural protections.

Originally Posted by impolyt_one

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I've tried garment washing some of my lamb leather jackets in the washer, it can mess the pocket edgings up from abrasion, so I don:t really recommend it unless you're willing to write it off. I can't support you guys there.
For lamb and soft calf, those are better if soaked down in the shower with really hot water and dried flat I guess, and it takes a lot of water to really saturate the leather. Kind of how you'd treat jeans except leather is more delicate when pores get opened.
Fok's FQHH will probably make it through the wash unharmed but I don't know how much it'll really change it either, because of how tight the grain is. If he wears it in a day or two from damp, zips it up and moves around in it a lot, the jacket will get some wrinkles and stuff in it though, which should make it look really cool.

I think aeglus soaked his calf DR in hot water and wore it damp right when he got it, actually. It helped get the arms into shape and he got all the combing in the arms.

So I'm interested in loosening up, as well as getting some of the shine off of my Aero FQHH cafe racer jacket... Are you guys tossing them in a washing machine or soaking them?

I've tried garment washing some of my lamb leather jackets in the washer, it can mess the pocket edgings up from abrasion, so I don:t really recommend it unless you're willing to write it off. I can't support you guys there.
For lamb and soft calf, those are better if soaked down in the shower with really hot water and dried flat I guess, and it takes a lot of water to really saturate the leather. Kind of how you'd treat jeans except leather is more delicate when pores get opened.
Fok's FQHH will probably make it through the wash unharmed but I don't know how much it'll really change it either, because of how tight the grain is. If he wears it in a day or two from damp, zips it up and moves around in it a lot, the jacket will get some wrinkles and stuff in it though, which should make it look really cool.

I think aeglus soaked his calf DR in hot water and wore it damp right when he got it, actually. It helped get the arms into shape and he got all the combing in the arms.

As Drew said, FQHH is tough as nails, so there was no abrasion at all from the wash. YMMV though. I love experimenting, and am not adverse to doing it with even my best/favorite pieces, but if you are risk adverse, I recommend against.

It's starting to look really cool. The pores really opened up, and the leather has lost the initial sheen, is looking more matte, and is getting a slightly grainy appearance that is natural with horse (Aero jackets, brand new, have a heavy, flat appearance, so I assume that you'd get the same effect as did I.) Interestingly, the left front panel is much flatter in appearance than the rest of the jacket. iirc, it takes just one hide to make a jacket, so this was a little surprising, and I imagine that that panel was just cut from one end of the hide. I'm probably not going to wear it too damp, maybe in a day or so. I had really deep creases already just from a few days of continual wear, so I'm not concerned that those marks won't form. The only time I've done that is in an experiment with a suede piece, and then, we were working to get suede to color differently at the creases (incidentally, Margiela did this in about... 2001, with a raw cut, heavy suede moto.)

Close, I wore it in a pretty bad storm a couple of times and got it soaked which softened up the arms a decent amount. Arms have insane combs simply because it's nearly skin tight with just a tshirt on. It's starting to look pretty awesome these days, perfect for the weather too Gonna cry when summer comes.

I just got a more extreme haircut yesterday too. Buzzed the sides and back, didn't touch the top. Now I'm looking pretty awesome. Some old westerner stared at me with mouth wide open just as I was leaving the hair dresser.

"Also, you do want to be careful with different leather. Leather is not meant to be wet. That’s why they all have a finishing on it. but washing it, you are taking away the protection (but creating some nice effect in some cases). How leather don’t take drying well and will start cracking (in which case, you will need to use some leather conditioner, ‘Lexol’ works pretty well). Testing with small area is very important. Generally for the more expensive leather, washing once won’t have too much of a problem. But the same can’t be said for the 2nd, 3rd, or the 4th time. Why? The expensive leather are mostly 1st-layer leather. They are better finished with more protection. the cheaper leather are mostly 2nd-layer leather or ’split’ leather. The finishing are poor on those. Uneven without washing, they will dry up, will crack, and the finishing will ‘fall’ off with time.” http://helloblackbird.blogspot.com/2...-by-peter.html

What will happen to a low quality leather in the washer? Just fall apart?

Low quality leather is not the top layer. Commonly called "split" leather, it is the lower layers of leather (a hide is thick, and is typically sheared, or "split"). The finishing on these layers is essentially painted on. It ages terribly, cracking, etc... A lot of cheaper vintage jackets from the 70s are from this cheap leather. Washing this type of leather is not going to make the leather more supple, take off the sheen, etc., but just make the thing look like shit.

Lesson - don't buy cheap leather (aero can be had for $800-$900 new, and the leather quality is better than most mid-priced boutique brands.)